I was all set to write about how EJ Viso is spitting in the face of racing superstitions. His car already has green all over it and now he's changing his number to "13", so all he needs is a "planters peanuts" sponsorship to score an unholy trifecta. He might even be looking to break some mirrors and walk under ladders, just for good measure. As Tony Kanaan, Vitor Meira, Graham Rahal and several others found out last year, EJ Viso isn't afraid of bad luck; he IS bad luck.

But...then I came across this photo of Viso laughing at having some giant, deadly snake wrapped around his neck and I realized there's nothing more I can add at this point. I mean, we've reached the point where there just isn't enough hyperbole in the English language to describe this guy. I may have to switch to Spanish instead.

But...then I thought I should note how I first saw the pic (here linked from IndyCar.com), which was via the Vision Racing twitter feed, and how this particular team has done an incredible job of using twitter to feed information to fans this week. (The only other team using a twitter account is HVM, but they aren't doing much with it, possibly because they have to keep rescuing otherwise deadly animals from Viso.)

Plus, as if that's not fan-friendly enough, they also have a running Q&A on the Vision Racing Facebook page similar to the one Panther Racing. Huge kudos to those teams for doing the unthinkable and interacting with fans no mater where they are.

There are others who pass along IRL-related info, but along with @VisionRacing these folks actively participate in the discussion. In other words, they respond to you. If you are unable to hang out at the bar with friends to discuss racing, use the internet that Al Gore invented to hang out with these folks (along with your humble host @MyNameIsIRL) instead.

But...there's one last thing on twitter that got my attention: @teamamericaf1. Not so much because of the feed but because, well, just check out their web site and blog. This image says it all.

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Anonymous
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February 26, 2009 12:28 PM

Deadly snake might be a stretch there. Im sure you might be corrected soon on that. Its a constrictor and most people think of the poisonous snakes as more of a threat and deadly.

As I tell my kids, there are "bite you" snakes and there are "choke you" snakes - both of which can render you dead.

All I know if is if Indiana Jones is afraid of them then they must be bad.

Anonymous
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February 26, 2009 12:41 PM

A great big hats off to Michael and Pat for really going the extra lap to keep everyone up to date on Vision's testing at Homestead. They're top drawer kind of people. As Hawkeye would say, "finest kind."

So at this point we have pictures of E.J. on a unicycle, skydiving, driving an indycar, playing beach volleyball, the Wham-ish workout video montage, and with a big snake on him...

what's next? I'm thinking maybe... juggling, bungee jumping, skateboard on a halfpipe? we should make a list of things we have yet to see E.J. do, and send it off to him, he seems like the kind of guy that would take it on, hehe.

come to think of it, I really, REALLY want E.J. to win a race just to see what his celebration might involve...

AZZO45
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February 26, 2009 12:47 PM

I'll hold all my bad snake jokes, especially focused on EJ Viso...

Where can we lobby for a new name for Twitter & "tweets"??? Twitter sounds like punch lines of some of my off-color jokes I pledged NOT to post above.

As for the all-American photoshop of the US F1 car. I'll take Coca Cola over McNasty's as a true US icon. As for the King of Beers... no longer American owned. The Mack truck nose looks BETTER (& more aerodynamic) than the '09 Renault!!! :) :)

Anonymous
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April 04, 2009 3:21 PM

EJ Viso is the only reason I still watch these cars!! That guy has got some guts!!